I just bought a White 2999 from an online dealer that I've heard good
things about. It arrived Friday, and in general I'm pleased with it...
buttonholes are a breeze, it's got nifty features like needle up/down,
the ability to lower feed dogs, and sewing without a pedal (whee!). But
there's a few stitches that just don't look like they're supposed to,
and I'm unsure what to do about it.

Stitch #19 is a stretch overlock stitch, and it's supposed to look like
an uppercase V with a lowercase v nested inside it. But the lowercase v
doesn't connect properly, and it looks like an uppercase V with two
little lines at the top.

Stitch #20 is a smocking stitch and should look like squares, but when
I sew it, it looks more open, like interconnected Ss (uh, that would be
the letter S, plural. esses?)

Stitch #24 should look like an asterisk, but the two sides don't match
up. Instead it looks like two fans that are off-center.

You can see pics of these stitches at
http://cinaminx.com/gallery/album14 The photos aren't the greatest
quality (the fabric is actually black, not brown), but you can get a
general idea of what I'm talking about. There's also a photo of the
machine, for comparison to what the stitches are supposed to look like.

Tomorrow I'll call the place where I bought this machine and ask their
advice (they're not open today), but I'd also like to hear your
opinions... Is this a problem with White machines in general? This
particular model? This machine specifically? I don't know whether I'll
want to exchange it for another (same model) machine, or just return it
and get something else. Perhaps keep it and live with the weird
stitches? They do charge a 20% restocking fee if I return it because I
don't like the machine, but I'm not sure if this counts as "not liking
it" (I *do* like this machine in general, but I don't like the poor
stitches, which I think are defective... they certainly don't come out
as pictured on the machine.) Am I being too picky?


Cina